As is usual I called at
Eyebrook Reservoir on route to Rutland Water but yet again there was no sign of
the Little Owls along the approach road.
I carried along the Leicestershire bank to the northern coral where I
found six Little Egrets and one of the Shelduck was escorting just six young,
although I did see seven young later.
With little else I went to the island coral seeing four more Little
Egret in the bay to the north of the island but other than five Common Terns
there was nothing else of note. I
stopped briefly near the gate to the fishing lodge where I saw five Tree
Sparrows before driving to the Rutland bank and parking facing the inlet. The light was much better and I quickly found
a Redshank amongst the Lapwing, three Little Ringed Plovers on the drier area
and two Dunlin on the stream. As I
scanned further into the stream there was a forth Little Ringed Plover, three
Whimbrel and a Yellow-legged Gull. I
then thought I heard a Greenshank but the wind was making it difficult to be
certain and so I moved to get more shelter behind some bushes. As I scanned the area for a Greenshank I
noticed a nice summer plumaged Turnstone and shortly afterwards saw the three
Whimbrel fly off to the south. There
were at least three Yellow Wagtails amongst the tall grasses and I then noticed
two Ringed Plovers on the far shore. I
eventually felt I had seen all there was to see and headed off to Rutland
Water.
I had spoken to Steve briefly
on the phone and he had seen three Turnstone and three Greenshanks in the north
arm as well as the usual Little Ringed Plovers and Dunlin. I parked the car near the gate and walked
down to the spit but I could only find one Turnstone at the end of the spit
with two Dunlin. There was also a couple
of Little Ringed Plover and two Oystercatchers flew over and landed on the
smaller spit. I scanned both the
northern and southern shores but could only find a single Greenshank along with
four Curlews. I walked further into the
bay to ensure that I could see the whole area but found nothing else. As I was scanning the north shore Tim arrived
and almost immediately found what he thought was a Wood Sandpiper on the far
shore. I was soon on the bird and
despite the distance agreed that it was most likely a Wood Sandpiper and Tim
alerted Steve, who informed him that there was also a Whimbrel on the south
shore. Tim went off to look for the
Turnstones but like me he could find one but said there were now more Curlews. I went and checked the Curlew out and found
that there were six along with a Whimbrel before they were disturbed by fishing
boat. After the disturbance I could only
find the six Curlews and two of those were now on the northern shore. A quick scan of the bund produced three
Common Sandpipers and there were seven Little Egrets scattered around the north
arm and the fishponds.
I eventually moved out of the
north arm and went to the Old Hall and then walked towards the reserve. I found three Common Sandpipers and there
were another sixteen Little Egrets visible.
It was pretty windy in the
south arm and with else appearing to be present I went to the Egleton
Reserve. When I arrived it was a little
early for lunch and so I decided to go to the centre to view lagoon one for
half an hour. There was a juvenile Great
Spotted Woodpecker feeding on peanuts at the feeding station but flew off and
as there was very little else I went to the centre.
I had a chat with Stephen about
his recent trip to the Lake District before going up stairs to the viewing
area. The Mallard seen last week with a
mixed brood of Mallard and Tufted Duck still had all nine ducklings in tow and
there was also a Gadwall with four well grown young and a Tufted Duck with two
quite small young just in front of the centre.
As I was scanning the wildfowl I heard a Whimbrel on several occasions
and picked it up heading off east before it turned and came back towards the
lagoon. It dropped low over the lagoon
and landed on a fence post where it remained until I went for my lunch.
After lunch I met Mike and
informed him about the Whimbrel but I was really surprised to find it still
stood on the post and it was still there quite some time later when Steve and
Terry looked for it.
I walked down to Shoveler hide
with Craig and just after we entered the hide a Green Sandpiper ran away from
the hide before flying out of sight.
There were plenty of duck on the lagoon mainly Gadwall and Tufted Duck
but there were also Teal, Mallard, Shoveler and Pochard and I did find a single
drake Wigeon. There was also a nice
summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwit feeding in the water just off the most
distant island, where there were an adult and juvenile Shelduck. Craig eventually departed and I then saw one
of the adult Avocets and eventually a juvenile with a full set of rings but
they are quite elusive keeping out of sight behind the reeds.
I went to Buzzard hide in an
attempt to see all of the Avocets but couldn’t see any and continued to crake
hide seeing a Sedge Warbler and a couple of Reed Warblers, although the reeds
are beginning to obscure the view from the hide. The main water is still falling and there was
the first sign of mud appearing close to the hide but it might be a week or
more before there is likely to be suitable for waders.
I walked back towards Shoveler
hide calling at Smew hide on lagoon two but there was little of note and so I
continued on to Shoveler. The Avocets
were still not visible but a Hobby flew over and remained over the wood for a
few minutes before moving off to the north.
It wasn’t long afterwards when there was a mass panic both on lagoons
three and four and then the culprit emerged, a juvenile Peregrine.
Juvenile Peregrine
Juvenile Peregrine
Juvenile Peregrine
Juvenile Peregrine
Juvenile Peregrine
Shortly afterwards Steve and
Terry appeared and whilst waiting for an Avocet to appear a Spotted Redshank
flew onto the distant island but only remained a few minutes before it flew
back behind the reeds and out of site. I
fired off a few shots of a gull that I expected to be a Yellow-legged but when
I processed the shots I found that it was the third-calendar year Caspian and
what a ragged looking specimen it looked in flight. Terry finally gave up on the Avocets and
called it a day and it was shortly afterwards I moved on to Dunlin hide on
lagoon four.
Third-calendar year Caspian Gull
Third-calendar year Caspian Gull
Third-calendar year Caspian Gull
Third-calendar year Caspian Gull
Juvenile Black-headed Gull
Juvenile Common Tern
Juvenile Common Tern
John Wright was present when I
arrived and was paying particular attention to the gulls and indicated that
there was an adult Caspian Gull as well as the third-calendar year bird and
also that there were a couple of juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls. He got me on the juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls
and also pointed out some key points in their identification. Steve then arrived and shortly afterwards
John pointed out the adult Caspian but sadly it was asleep and it wasn’t possible
to see it properly. It did eventually
stand and start to preen and we were able to get some nice views of it
alongside a Yellow-legged Gull. During
my stay I had also seen a Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper and an Osprey was
also present. Erik arrived shortly
afterwards and after sorting his latest collection of moth photos I called it a
day and walked back the car with Steve.
It had been a pretty good day
with sixteen species of wader observed and eighty-eight species in total, which
I think is pretty good for a land locked location.
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